What is happening:
In this scene, a driver is using a cellphone as a navigation device and using the ledge of his dashboard to hold the cellphone so that the device appears as part of the overall dashboard. In the second picture, one of the challenges of this setup is evident: if the user wants to interact with the map application, they have to poke their finger through the steering wheel and push the buttons that they want to use. This application is Waze, so a sample use case might be if they want to indicate that there is a police officer on the road or comment on the amount of traffic.
A potential solution:
An obvious adjustment would be to build the navigation into the car. Interestingly, this car actually already has a separate navigation system in the center console. The problem is that it can't easily be updated with new apps or software like the phone can, so its navigation system is actually out of date. An alternative way to look at this problem is that perhaps we should embrace the idea of a phone as a primary navigation system and actually build in a place to put it on the dash. Then, to address the input/output issues, we can link the phone to more logical places to provide feedback (like, perhaps, the left foot). If the need to put a finger through the steering wheel can be removed, then the phone can reasonably be integrated to the car's systems so that it becomes a true compliment. Users could comment on accidents, traffic, police, etc. through physical interaction that doesn't interrupt the core responsibility of driving or block the dashboard.
- Login to post comments
